Illinois Sports Betting Numbers Slip Slightly In December

The state of Illinois had a banner year in 2024. It was the year it officially increased its sports betting tax — jumping to 40 percent on the high end for the top-used mobile betting apps. Illinois now has one of the highest sports betting taxes in the country, which of course, is going to improve revenues.

Speaking of which, we just got hold of December sports betting revenues. The state reports these with a lag hence why we’re two months behind. Nonetheless, it’s a symbolic report because it closes out 2024 officially.

Now would be a good time to analyze those final numbers to level-set the state of Illinois sports betting. Spoiler alert: things are going good. Really good, actually.

December Hold Leads To Down Month In Illinois

December 2024 was the last month of the NFL regular season, where every team was still in action before the playoffs — including Illinois’ own, the Chicago Bears. It’s also the last month to juice profits out of the most profitable time of the year. Welp, Illinois had some trouble getting every last drop of profits as well explain.

According to the Illinois Gaming Board, the state’s sportsbooks recorded a $1.49 billion handle — this is the number of bets placed, not profits. For what it’s worth, this is a 13.5 percent uptick compared to December 2023. However, this figure represented a 2.6 percent drop from November 2024, which had set a new monthly record.

While bettors were more active year-over-year, operators saw slimmer margins. Revenue dropped 17.7 percent with Illinois’ online and retail sportsbooks generating $105.7 million —the fourth-highest monthly total for 2024 but the second-lowest during football season, only ahead of October’s $81.1 million. Overall, revenue took a 31.6 percent dip month-over-month with a 7.1 percent win rate — the third-lowest in 2024.

This sky is not falling in Illinois, though. The decline was felt by just about every legal sports betting market, not just Illinois. This is because NFL favorites — which most casual bettors put money on — had an unusually strong December, giving bettors the upper hand. Inevitable, these things happen but usually self-correct afterward.

How Much Illinois Keeps In Taxes

When it comes to the profit number, we should mention it’s shared. The money is split between the operators and the state itself. Here’s how that split shakes out for December.

The state of Illinois collected $35.1 million in state taxes during December. Again, that’s a big decline from the month before where they did $48.2 million. Additionally, operators contributed $1.03 million to Cook County, which includes Chicago. The country has an additional tax for betting.

The numbers are still a hell of a lot better than they would’ve done earlier this year (or last year) when it had a flat tax of 15 percent. The new tax went into effect in July and ranges from 20 to 40 percent. The more money a specific bookie makes, the more it’s taxed so the hammer comes the hardest on DraftKings and FanDuel. More on them next.

Since we now have the final data, we can report that Illinois collected $263.8 million in sports betting taxes during all of 2024. This is a whopping 75 percent better than 2023’s $150.3 million. Of course, that’s largely because of the tax increase we keep mentioning. That should set the stage for a record-breaking 2025, which will have the benefit of seeing this tax from start to finish.

Which Operators Banked The Most

Perhaps not surprisingly, most of the betting handle went to betting apps. They accounted for $1.45 billion of the total December handle — with physical casinos doing the other $400 million. It’s pretty consistent with the rest of the country, where you’re seeing apps get 95 percent market share just like in Illinois.

Anyways, DraftKings maintained its position at the top of the Illinois betting industry, generating the highest handle with $508.2 million. However, this figure marked a $20 million dip compared to November’s record-setting total. With a 6.5 percent win rate, DraftKings pulled in $32.9 million in revenue, representing a sharp 42.6 percent decline from the previous month.

FanDuel followed closely with $500 million in wagers but outperformed DraftKings in profitability. Thanks to a respectable 8.3 percent hold, FanDuel posted a state-best $41.7 million in revenue for December. So we take back our earlier line, the REAL leader of the local industry is actually FanDuel.

Elsewhere in the state, Fanatics Sportsbook was the only other operator to surpass the $100 million handle mark. However, its revenue slipped from $11.4 million in November to $9.3 million in December. BetRivers showed some growth, reporting an $89.4 million handle, higher than its November total. The operator also enjoyed an 8.4% hold. Meanwhile, BetMGM posted the highest hold rate in the state at 10.7% on a $74.7 million handle, which included a $5 million revenue adjustment in its monthly figures.

Caesars rounded out the top six, securing a $66.2 million handle and earning $2.8 million in profit. Not far behind, ESPN BET reported $60.3 million wagered and $2.7 million in revenue. Hard Rock Bet — a new player in the state — generated nearly $1.5 million in revenue on a $35 million handle, while Circa Sports had a tough month, suffering a $257,000 loss on $13.3 million in wagers. Yikes!